Archaeol Anthropol Sci (2015) 7:235–243 DOI 10.1007/s12520-014-0189-0
ORIGINAL PAPER
Combined Raman spectroscopic and Rietveld analyses as a useful and nondestructive approach to studying flint raw materials at prehistoric archaeological sites C. Capel Ferrón & L. León-Reina & S. Jorge-Villar & J. M. Compaña & M. A. G. Aranda & J. T. López Navarrete & V. Hernández & F. J. Medianero & J. Ramos & G.-C. Weniger & S. Domínguez-Bella & J. Linstaedter & P. Cantalejo & M. Espejo & J. J. Durán Valsero
Received: 7 October 2013 / Accepted: 24 February 2014 / Published online: 28 March 2014 # Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2014
Abstract A set of six lithic tools, unearthed along 2011 in two karst sites of the Guadalteba County (Málaga, Spain), has been nondestructively investigated by Raman spectroscopy and laboratory x-ray diffraction. From a chemist’s point of view, our goal is to develop a systematic screening protocol for a quick, easy, low cost and nondestructive characterization of archaeological flints based on Raman spectroscopy, x-ray diffraction and Rietveld refinement. In this paper, we firstly made use of Raman spectroscopy to determine, in a semiquantitative way, but with the generic advantage of a faster
data acquisition than x-ray diffraction, the surface content of moganite of each lithic tool, from the ratio between the relative intensities of the two Raman-active symmetric stretching vibrations (A1 modes) of α-quartz (465 cm−1) and moganite (501 cm−1). The precise bulk quartz/moganite weight content was then accurately quantified by means of high-quality x-ray diffraction, followed by Rietveld refinement. We found a general good correlation between Raman and x-ray data. Nonetheless, as recently reported in the scientific literature by other authors, the vibrational spectroscopic quantification
C. Capel Ferrón Laboratorio de Espectroscopía Vibracional, Servicios Centrales de Apoyo a la Investigación, Universidad de Málaga, Campus de Teatinos, s/n, 29071 Málaga, Spain
F. J. Medianero Escuela Taller de Peñarrubia, Consorcio Guadalteba, Paseo de Peñarrubia, s/n, 29320, Campillos Málaga, Spain
L. León-Reina Laboratorio de Difracción de rayos-X, Servicios Centrales de Apoyo a la Investigación, Universidad de Málaga, Campus de Teatinos, s/n, 29071 Málaga, Spain S. Jorge-Villar Área de Geodinámica Interna, Facultad de Humanidades y Educación, Universidad de Burgos, C/ Villadiego s/n, 09001 Burgos, Spain S. Jorge-Villar (*) National Research Center on Human Evolution (CENIEH), Burgos, Spain e-mail:
[email protected] J. M. Compaña : M. A. G. Aranda Departamento de Química Inorgánica, Cristalografía y Mineralogía, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Málaga, Campus de Teatinos, s/n, 29071 Málaga, Spain J. T. López Navarrete : V. Hernández (*) Departamento de Química Física, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Málaga, Campus de Teatinos, s/n, 29071 Málaga, Spain e-mail:
[email protected]
J. Ramos Área de Prehistoria, Facultad de Filosofía y Letras, Universidad de Cádiz, Avda. Gómez Ulla, s/n, 11003 Cádiz, Spain G.
